persistent menu

You are here

Multicultural Peer Education

Multicultural peer education is based on the premise that effective change occurs most consistently when people have opportunities to develop respectful relationships. Our multicultural peer educators (MPEs) are specially trained Holy Cross student volunteers who assist in programming, work with staff and residence assistants, and informally engage other students on topics of diversity. MPEs are committed to:

Opening up people’s minds and hearts by their own examples.

Championing the belief that human differences matter.

Educating themselves and their peers about the most honest and effective ways of openly discussing human differences.

Encouraging others to share their stories – and to reach out and form genuine relationships.

How can we learn to listen better, speak more openly and honestly, and develop real and genuine relationships with each other? When it comes to our human differences, the College of the Holy Cross actively engages in confronting silence and segregation on campus. The Multicultural Peer Educators (MPEs) in the Office of Multicultural Education promote affirmation, awareness and action as the fundamental means to changing ourselves, our campus culture, and the larger society to be more understanding and inclusive of differences as we work for social justice.

We all deserve better! In the MPE program students develop cultural dexterity skills via:

Working on issues of trust building through the use of supportive, active, reflective, and confidential listening skills

Working together across lines of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ability, etc., to develop leadership skills that challenge the silence and segregation that are so much a normal part of life on campus

Challenging themselves and others to examine both personal and Holy Cross norms and values regarding diversity, and to search for a common understanding